Injector razor blade



July 12, 1966 w. c. BOYD INJECTOR RAZOR BLADE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 OriginalFiled Sept. 20, 1962 lllllll l ham ajw ATTORNEYS United States Patentand this application Oct. 20, 1964, Ser. No. 405,163 6 Claims. (Cl.30-353) This invention relates in general to razor blades and inparticular to a blade designed for use in a particular type of safetyrazor and magazine injector.

This application is a division of my prior co-pending application S.N.224,993, filed September 20, 1962, now Patent No. 3,171,197, dated March2, 1965.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of a blade for asafety razor which, with the blade locked in place has no part of therazor extending over the top of the blade, so that in use the blade canbe held close to the face and at the proper shaving angle.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a blade having alongitudinal feather unitary therewith extending across the blade inmiddle position constructed so as to interlock at opposite sides withthe cooperating clamping jaws of the longitudinally divided razor head.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a blade for asafety razor as described, the clamping jaws being unitary withcooperating plates upon which the blade seats, the jaws being normallyresiliently biased to come together with clamping pressure against theopposite sides of the feather of a blade seated on said plates with thefeather between said jaws, the sole means for locking the blade inshaving position being the jaws.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a blade having aconvexly curved edge at one side extending from end to end, adapting itto shave in areas of depressed contour such as under the arms.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the description of apractical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings which accompany and form a part of the followingspecification and throughout the figures of which the same referencecharacters have been used to designate identical parts:

FIGURE 1 is a view'in perspective showing a razor with blade andjuxtaposed injector, indicating the function of the injector tongue inseparating the divided parts of the razor head, parts being broken awayto show the injector magazine;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional View through the head of the razor, the blade,and the tongue of the injector, taken in a vertical plane perpendicularto the length dimension of the jaws;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the head of the razor without the blade,showing in full lines the divided portions of the head, or jaws, insubstantially closed position, and in broken lines, indicating them inthe position assumed when the jaws are spread by the injector tongue;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the blade, inverted;

FIGURE 5 and 5a show diagrammatically exemplary variants in thecross-sectional shape of the blade flange;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of a modified form of blade, and injuxtaposition, a similar view of a correspondingly modified dividedrazor head; and 4 FIGURE 7 is a vertical cross-section taken along theline 77 of FIGURE 1.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, which were made from aprototype model and do not represent the final form which the inventionmay take as an article of commerce, the numeral 10 refers to the razoras a whole which comprises a handle 11 from which a body comprising apair of congruent leaves or relatively thin plates 12 extend in anupward direction. Said plates are fixed to the handle, and in the regionadjacent the handle they are in surface contact, but they are slightlyspaced apart at their upper ends. They are stifily resilient and theirrelative substantial continguity as described is their normal reposeposition. The plates 12 at their upper ends are fixed to the respectivehalves of the divided head 13.

The latter comprises the rigid bars 14 and 15 which extend upward fromthe plates 12, being fixed thereto and are preferably the length of theblade. The bars are of equal height with narrow outwardly extendingflanges at the top to which are fixed respectively the outwardlyextending curved seat plates 16 and 17 that together form the seat forthe blade. The parts that have been described as fixed to one anothermay be integral.

The bar 14 is plan-iform up to the point at which it flanges outwardlyto join the seat plates. The corresponding face of the bar 15 is formedwith a longitudinal channel 16' opening toward the bar 14. This channelreceives the rib 18, which is embossed on the tongue 19 of an injector,when the tongue is thrust into the space between the bars against theresilient bias of the plates 12. The rib 'closely fits the channel andholds the injector in proper position at the end of the head. Theregistry of the tongue and channel also assures that the injector willalways be presented to the razor at the same end.

It will be noted that the inner edges 20 of the seat plates projectinwardly of the respective bars 14 and 15 and that the lower portions ofsaid edges are chamfered forming upwardly convergent inclined planesthat meet the upper faces of the seat plates, in effect functioning aswedges. In repose position of the seat plates the edges substantiallycome together with some pressure.

Adverting now to the blade 22, in its inverted position shown in FIGURE4, it is seen to be transversely curved to match the contour of the seatplates; it is double edged, and it has a longitudinally extendingfeather 23 on its concave side, of uniform V-shaped cross-section exceptat one end, at which it may be convergent for easy insertion of thefeather between the edges of the seat plates when they are in spreadrelation through the function of the inserted tongue of the injector.The feather is welded to the blade equidistant from the edges thereofwith its apex in contact with the blade and its divergent sides makingequal angles therewith. The sides are preferably resilient. When thetongue of the injector is withdrawn the inner edges 20 of the seatplates cam against the inclined sides of the feather under the bias ofthe resilient plates 12, drawing theblade down against the seat platesand they also clamp it against the feather, holding the blade locked inplace. The seat plates may be regarded as jaws in view of their clampingfunction.

It is to be noted from the drawings that the subject razor distinguishesfrom conventional razors in the omission of the upper clamping platethat has heretofore been employed not only as a clamp for the blade, butbecause of its position at the top of the razor and its upwardly convexface, as a rocker against the face acting as a support for the razor inuse, slidably contacting the face and stabilizing the cutting angle ofthe edge with th skin. The ability in the present invention to do awaywith the upper clamp plates, incident to the positioning of the bladeclamping means altogether at the under side of the blade makes the bladethe top member of the assemblage with the apex of its convex faceprojecting above all other structure, in which uppermost position itscurved surface inherently adapts it to perform the face engaging, edgeangle stabilizing function of the commonly known upper blade clamp.

A number of alternative variants may be envisioned as equivalents of thefeather 23, two of which are diagrammatically shown in FIGURES 5 and 5aby way of example.

The one illustrated in FIGURE 5 is a curved 3 metal trough 24 welded tothe blade at the middle of its arc of curvature. The feather in FIGURE ais composite, consisting of a narrow rectangular strip 25 welded to theblade, and a wider strip 26 welded to the outer side of the strip 25 andprojecting beyond the latter equally at both sides. Channels 27 are thusformed, the

width of which is such that the angular edges of the seat plates uponentering the channels wedgingly engage the outer strip 26, holding theblade down against the seat plates and clampably locking it in place.

The length of the tongue 19 of the injector is not greater than one-halfthe length of the bars 14 and 15, and its width is such that wheninserted between the bars it spreads the seat plates sufficiently toallow the feather 23 of the blade to enter freely between the clampingedges of the seat plates. However, there is a reluctance on the part ofthe resilient plates 12 to move away from their position of repose sothere is a torsional strain developed in the plates 12 between theirportions which react directly against the unyielding mass of theinterposed tongue and their portions which react against the moreyieldable resistance of the bars, ahead of the tongue.

This torsional strain causes the bars and the seat plates, which areunitary with them to converge, turning about the end of the tongue as itmoves in, assuming a posi tion in which the space between the seatplates forward of the tongue becomes narrower than the feather of theblade and must be forced apart by the feather until the blade reachesits final position on the head of the razor, the convergent position ofthe seat plates being shown in broken lines in FIGURE 3. The advantageof this operation is that the blade is positively held in positionrequiring no corner lugs on the seat plates to hold it in place. Also,the blade cannot fall out during insertion, as would be possible if theclamping edges of the seat plates remained parallel from end to end whenspread by the injector tongue to give free entry of the feather betweenthe spread edges of the seat plates.

The injector, designated as a whole by the reference numeral 28,comprises a box having a rectangular bottom 29, side walls 30 and endwalls 31 and 31a extending perpendicularly upward from the bottom. Oneside wall is provided with an extension which forms the tongue 19. Theside walls 39 have flanges 32 at the top, bent inwardly and having thecurvature of the blade. The flanges terminate in parallel edges whichdefine an open runway 33, extending longitudinally of the box.

A blade magazine 34 occupies the forward part of the box, being part ofthe injector. It consists of a bottom wall 35, seated on the bottomof'the box, preferably fitting frictionally between the side walls 30.The object of the magazine is to hold centered a plurality ofcongruently stacked blades, with their edges out of contact with theside walls of the box and to keep the stack pressed upward against theflanges 32 by an underlying spring in compression between the bottom ofthe magazine and the lowermost blade of the stack. In FIGURE 7 thenumeral 36 denotes the spring, and 37 the stack. It is to be noted thatthe blades 22 are each formed with a pair of notches 38 at each endoffset with respect to the longitudinal center line of the blade. Thenotches are similarly located for all of the blades so that when thelatter are congruently stacked the notches are in perfect registry. Thebottom of the magazine is provided with four perpendicularly upstandingposts 39 positioned to register with the respective groups ofregistering notches, but of such height as to exclude the topmost blade.Without the interengaging posts and notches the blades would be unstablybalanced in the stack since each would be supported solely upon thenarrow base afforded by the feathers 23. The coaction of the posts andnotches keep the individual blades in parallel planes in the stack andparallel to the bottom of the magazine, which is essential to theejection of the blades through the narrow space in the magazine abovethe posts.

A pusher 40 rides in the runway 33. It consists of outer and innerplates 41 and 42, respectively, curved to fit the exterior and interiorsurfaces of the flanges 32, and a neck plate 43 of such width as toslidably fit the runway, and connect to the outer and inner plates inany suitable manner as by Welding. The outer and inner plates embracethe flanges 32, and thus couple the pusher to the flanged top of theinjector. plate is th element that contacts the end of the uppermostblade of the stack.

The pusher 40, when inactive, is positioned immediately back of themagazine preferably with small range of free movement in the runway. Therearward end wall 31 of the box may have its upper edge shaped to form alug 44 which extends into the runway and forms a stop in obstructiveposition to the inner plate of the pusher to keep the latter fromsliding off the rearward end of the injector. The height of the forwardend wall 31a is such that the upper edge of said wall clears the path offorward projection of the uppermost blade of the stack.

In order to keep the pusher from running off the forward end of theinjector a pair of lugs 45 are struck up from the front ends of theflanges 32, one on each side, The outer plate of the pusher is.

to function as stops. provided at its forward edge with recesses 46 toreceive the lugs, of such depth as to stop the pusher when the front ofits inner plate 42 is precisely in a common plane with the face of theinjector that abuts the head of the razor. This precise relationship ofparts assures that the blade will be installed in the razor in the exactre-v quired longitudinal position.

The injector and razor are so matched that when the tongue of theinjector is fully inserted in the tongue re ceptor constituted by thebars 14 and 15, the topmost The opposite shaving edge 49 is rectilinear.A blade of this shape requires that the head of the razor must bemodified to receive it. As shown in FIGURE 6, one of the seat plates 50,including the edge guard 51 is corre spondingly convex. The oppositeseat plate 12 is similar to the seat plates in the previously describedrazor designed for parallel edged blades. The feather on the blade 47 isat such distance from the straight edge of the blade as will bring thelongitudinal center line of the feather into the plane of separation ofthe divided head. Obviously the injector 28 would not, withoutmodification, handle the blade 47.

While I have in the above description disclosed practical embodiments ofmy invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that thespecific details of con struction and arrangement of parts as herein setforth, are by way of example and not to be construed as necessarilylimiting the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A blade for a razor constructed to have jaws which.

together form a blade seat, the seat being the uppermost structure ofthe razor, the jaws being resiliently biased to clampably engage anelement projecting from the underside of the blade, the blade comprisinga double edged leaf having an upper and lower face, the blade beingsmooth on its upper face, at least one edge of the blade beingrectilinear, the upper face of the blade being convex, a rectilinearfixed feather on the under face of the blade parallel to the rectilinearedge at an inter- The inner The relatively great depth given to theblades" mediate position in the width of the blade, the opposite sidesof the feather being so inclined with respect to the blade as to formchannels at the opposite sides of the feather, the opposite sides of thefeather adapted to be wedgingly engaged by the jaws of the razor forholding the blade to the seat.

2. A blade as claimed in claim 1, wherein the under face 'of the bladeis concave in a manner parallel to the upper convex face of the blade.

3. A blade as claimed in claim 1, wherein the opposite sides of thefeather form a juncture at the under face of the blade in which theincluded angle is acute.

4. A blade as claimed in claim 1, wherein the feather has a roundedcross sectional configuration with a con vex upper surface and a concavelower surface, the convex upper surface being in contact with the blade.

5. A blade as claimed in claim 1, wherein the feather has a crosssectional configuration in the shape of an inverted T, the transversecross member of the T being spaced from the blade.

6. A blade for a razor constructed to have jaws which together form ablade seat, the seat being the uppermost structure of the razor, thejaws being resiliently biased to clampably engage an element projectingfrom the underside of the blade, the blade comprising a double edgedleaf having an upper end and lower face, at least one edge of the bladebeing rectilinear, the upper face of the blade being convex, arectilinear fixed feather on the under face of the blade parallel to therectilinear edge at an intermediate position in the width of the blade,the opposite sides of the feather being so inclined with respect to theblade as to form channels at the opposite sides of the feather, theopposite sides of the feather adapted to be wedgingly engaged by thejaws of the razor for holding the blade to the seat.

N 0 references cited.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

I. L. I ONES, 111., Assistant Examiner.

6. A BLADE FOR A RAZOR CONSTRUCTED TO HAVE JAWS WHICH TOGETHER FORM ABLADE SEAT, THE SEAT BEING THE UPPERMOST STRUCTURE OF THE RAZOR, THEJAWS BEING RESILIENTLY BIASED TO CLAMPABLY ENGAGE AN ELEMENT PROJECTINGFROM THE UNDERSIDE OF THE BLADE, THE BLADE COMPRISING A DOUBLE EDGEDLEAF HAVING AN UPPER END AND LOWER FACE, AT LEAST ONE EDGE OF THE BLADEBEING RECTILINEAR, THE UPPER FACE OF THE BLADE BEING CONVEX, ARECTILINEAR FIXED FEATHER ON THE UNDER FACE OF THE BLADE PARALLEL TO THERECTILINEAR EDGE AT AN INTERMEDIATE POSITION IN THE WIDTH OF THE BLADE,THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE FEATHER BEING SO INCLINED WITH RESPECT TO THEBLADE AS TO FORM CHANNELS AT THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE FEATHER, THEOPPOSITE SIDES OF THE FEATHER ADAPTED TO BE WEDGINGLY ENGAGED BY THEJAWS OF THE RAZOR FOR HOLDING THE BLADE TO THE SEAT.